DIVERSITY OBJECTIVES AND PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

1 DIVERSITY OBJECTIVES AND PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Toolkit Page 1 Business in the Community 2019 Contents Introduction .. 2 1/ Create a policy .. 4 2/ Support your policy with practical materials .. 7 3/ Communicate the tools and materials available .. 9 4/ Review the PERFORMANCE marking distributions .. 12 5/ Engage leaders to take action to eradicate disparities ..14 6/ Evaluate results and impact on pay and reward gaps .. 16 7/ Impact stories and references .. 18 8/ Additional insight from YouGov .. 20 Further reading ..28 Page 2 Business in the Community 2019 Introduction Transparent standards and consistent assessment against these standards must be fundamental to a fair PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL system. As a minimum, DIVERSITY OBJECTIVES should be allocated to all employees in the organisation with line management responsibilities.

2 The Race at Work Charter has five calls to action. This toolkit supports action four Make clear that supporting equality in the workplace is the responsibility of all leaders and managers. Actions can include ensuring that PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES for leaders and managers cover their responsibilities to support fairness for staff. The Race at Work 2018 scorecard report highlighted that there was a drop in the percentage of managers with PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES to promote equality since 2015. In addition, it highlighted that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) managers were more likely to have a PERFORMANCE objective to promote DIVERSITY and inclusion than white managers. There is no clear research of insight available as to why this might be, however, it confirms that one of the key recommendations from the Race at Work 2015 report is: Set OBJECTIVES for managers at every level around ensuring DIVERSITY and inclusion in their teams.

3 These should include ensuring diverse talent has equal access to training, development opportunities and progression programmes. In 2018 there are differences between ethnicities in their experience of PERFORMANCE reviews. BAME employees are more likely than those from a White British background to report that they had a PERFORMANCE review (78% compared with 67%). BAME employees (44%) are subsequently more likely than White British employees (34%) to have received a standard PERFORMANCE review with no difference in the proportions receiving outstanding or an unsatisfactory PERFORMANCE review. There should be Specific, Measurable. Achievable, Realistic and Time bound (SMART) PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES for individuals, teams, projects, and in some instances, the organisation. Managers have a key role to play to ensure fairness in PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL outcomes for individuals.

4 Page 3 Business in the Community 2019 This toolkit has been developed to support the employers in our network to ensure both policies and actions are in place that result in a fairer distribution of APPRAISAL markings across all demographic groups in the workplace. Whilst the emphasis is to ensure that as a minimum standard all employees with management responsibilities have DIVERSITY related OBJECTIVES , our Equality, DIVERSITY and Discrimination in the Workplace report (2015) from The University of Manchester indicates that individuals in teams could benefit from DIVERSITY OBJECTIVES to increase their own knowledge and understanding of employees from diverse cultural heritages, appreciate difference and take action to promote inclusion within their teams. Sandra Kerr OBE Race Equality Director Business in the Community Page 4 Business in the Community 2019 1/ Create a policy Overview It is important to ensure a policy on equality and fairness in PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL exists within your organisation.

5 Promoting equality and fairness in your APPRAISAL processes should be a part of the induction process for new employees entering the organisation and the message should be reinforced during every APPRAISAL cycle. Actively encourage ongoing feedback and conversations about PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES throughout the year. It may also be sensible to discuss possible predicted PERFORMANCE markings for year-end and ensure there is clarity on what is needed to achieve that PERFORMANCE at the beginning of the year. Regular one-to-one and interim conversations can be used to assess if PERFORMANCE is on track. This enables any adjustments to be made during the year to ensure expectations on both sides are identified and managed early. Associated policies on access to development and training should also be widely communicated together with any relevant forms, resources and related web links for internal intranet and/or external sources as appropriate.

6 Page 5 Business in the Community 2019 Actions to take Practical actions to bring your policy to life: Employers should set high level organisational DIVERSITY OBJECTIVES from which OBJECTIVES for business units, managers and individuals can flow. (See the following Public Health England (PHE) example ) Agree standard setting for best practice in PERFORMANCE management across all business units in your organisation. provide clear instructions on how to complete the necessary forms. Ensure that this includes customised materials for managers, individuals and where appropriate, external stakeholders or third parties. provide training (face-to-face and/or e-learning) for all line managers on how to conduct effective PERFORMANCE appraisals. This training should be mandatory for all new managers and refresher modules should be available for those returning to management roles.

7 provide your employees with materials that give examples of what a good assessment would look and feel like. Ensure the policy signposts the chain of action should disputes arise at the time of PERFORMANCE review or if an APPRAISAL summary indicates bias from the appraiser and/or reviewing manager. Underpin policy with a Code of Practice and/or APPRAISAL hand book for managers and individuals setting out individual roles and responsibilities. Impact Story 1 Public Health England (PHE) An example of an organisation s high-level DIVERSITY OBJECTIVES DIVERSITY and staff inclusion and health and wellbeing outcomes We will develop all our people managers understanding of the link between effective DIVERSITY and staff inclusion and the future impact on physical and mental health of the actions and behaviours of managers and colleagues. We will do this by ensuring that 100% of PHE staff with people management responsibility attend a management seminar, which provide inspirational and tangible training for managers in creating inclusive and engaging working cultures, whilst in tandem with meeting PHE s mission and business OBJECTIVES .

8 Page 6 Business in the Community 2019 Workforce composition We will aim to hold 100% of data on our staff in reference to their age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion/belief and disability, so that our newly created DIVERSITY dashboard is able to provide accurate and meaningful data to all directorate SMTs, to use as evidence supporting the action they have taken to address their respective OBJECTIVES in tackling workforce inequality within their teams. PHE will aim for the same proportion of protected groups represented in the overall composition of the workforce to be mirrored at every grade and in every directorate. Talent management We will establish talent management schemes tailored for developing staff from the main six protected characteristics, with an objective of taking at least 60 staff through the full programme. Page 7 Business in the Community 2019 2/ Support your policy with practical materials Overview It is important that any policy is underpinned with practical materials.

9 This might include a Managers APPRAISAL Hand Book or an Employee APPRAISAL Hand Book. Create guidelines for setting SMART OBJECTIVES . Create a template for regular assessment against these OBJECTIVES during the PERFORMANCE year to ensure OBJECTIVES are clearly defined with the level of PERFORMANCE required. A selection of DIVERSITY OBJECTIVES for senior leaders, managers and individuals could be provided to help people start their thinking about what their OBJECTIVES should be. Materials need to be easily accessible to managers and individuals at any time. Engage senior leaders in cascading the PERFORMANCE information and/or best practice within their own business units so that they set a good leadership example and ensure it is not seen purely as just a HR process. Actions to take Practical actions to engage leaders and stakeholders Ensure the APPRAISAL handbook for managers is accessible to all employees so that they are aware of the organisational standard.

10 Consider some aspect of 360 degree or upward feedback for the manager as part of the APPRAISAL process. Page 8 Business in the Community 2019 Prepare draft DIVERSITY OBJECTIVES customised for leaders, managers and individuals in the organisation that they can use as guidelines to prepare their own OBJECTIVES or adopt as their own. Also consider unconscious bias information/training for those conducting appraisals. Engage your Employee Network Groups to support you to test the effectiveness of subject areas and scope of the DIVERSITY OBJECTIVES . Consider a DIVERSITY PERFORMANCE scorecard for business units which includes balanced PERFORMANCE ratings across all ethnicity groups. Consider short training workshops or webinars for staff to help them navigate the PERFORMANCE process and ask any questions they may have. Review the overall box marking PERFORMANCE ratings by diverse groups and create an action plan to close PERFORMANCE gaps.